This is pretty cool:
[Sherrod Brown] also made a series of promises, including a pledge to pay for his
own health care out-of-pocket until Congress passed universal coverage.
For the past 13 years, he's kept that pledge, turning down the
insurance offered to members and purchasing his own, until recently,
when at the cajoling of his wife, he joined her plan.
Not to mention that he probably couldn't afford the premiums anymore. The graf comes from Chris Hayes's excellent profile of Brown in the latest In These Times. Well worth the read. I don't, however, know about this part:
Brown believes his long progressive record will help rather than
hinder. “For 10 years I won in a congressional district that was
slightly Republican,” Brown says. “I think that voters that don't agree
with me on some issues will still say, ‘Brown's on my side.'
His district favored Kerry by 12%, Gore by 11%, and the Cook Partisan Index classifies it as Democratic +6. I don't know how that qualifies as "slightly Republican" rather than "heavily Democratic," but no matter. At least Brown's winning in it. For my part, I have an article on the Brown/Hackett race (and what it says about the netroots) in the most recent American Prospect. My argument is, basically, that the netroots need to start thinking about who they are ideologically rather than simply flocking to who they prefer pugilistically. If you've got a Prospect subscription, you can read it on the site. If not, grab it off newstands.
